Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin also plans to speak at a roundtable dedicated to the role of parliaments in restoration of trust in Europe

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, Sergey Naryshkin will attend the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to be held in Strasbourg January 26-30.

“On a proposal from PACE President Anne Brasseur, a regular meeting of State Duma Chairman Sergey Naryshkin with Assembly members is planned for the period of the winter session,” Naryshkin’s spokeswoman Yevgeniya Chugunova told journalists.

Besides, the speaker plans to speak at a roundtable dedicated to the role of parliaments in restoration of trust in Europe, she added.

Swiss MP to stop exercising functions of co-rapporteur for Russia

A PACE source told TASS on Monday that MP Andreas Gross of Switzerland will stop his functions of co-rapporteur for Russia’s monitoring in the beginning of the PACE winter session. Gross made such decision himself, the source said.

This is conditioned by the fact that Gross is not sure of his further work as a Swiss parliamentarian. The parliamentary elections should be held in Switzerland in the autumn.

After Gross steps down from office, the problem of monitoring Russia’s obligations in the PACE will hang in the air, the source said, adding that there was also uncertainty over another co-rapporteur for Russia, Theodora Bakoyannis of Greece, considering the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country, the source said.

Russia's participation in PACE

On April 10, the PACE passed a resolution that denied the Russian delegation the right to vote at the Assembly sessions and excluded it from the organization’s governing bodies until the end of the year over Russia’s reunification with Crimea. A total of 145 deputies voted in favor of the document, 21 voted against it and 22 abstained from voting.

The Russian delegation called the PACE decision unfair and illegitimate. The delegation was not present in full force at the summer and autumn sessions.

In January the powers of all delegations to the PACE should be formally reapproved.